Can Comets aid us to know more about origin of the solar system?

We all know that solar system’s formation started from billions of years ago. Today we have a solar system with sun in the center and nine planets, some asteroids and some comets revolving around it. Among different celestial bodies its comets that we are going to discuss in this article.

For years people believed that comets would bring misfortune in their life. Historical records states that ancient people considered the appearance of comets as a sign of wars and plagues. So they were afraid of these extraterrestrial bodies as it appears in the sky in an unpredictable and unannounced manner. While they were able to predict the path of the sun and other planets, it was difficult for them to find the path of comets. That can be the main reason behind their fear of comets. Whatever it is as the days passed they came to know that comets are nothing but lumps of ice and dust that gravitationally interact with the sun. This information cleared their fear on comets.

Some of the famous comets we come across are Hale-Bopp, Swift-tuttle, Hyakutake, Halley’s comet and shoemaker levy-9. Among these the most discussed one was Halley’s Comet. People came to know more about this comet after British astronomer Edmund Halley forecasted the orbit of the Halley’s Comet. Based on Isaac Newton’s theories on the motion of bodies and gravity, Edmund Halley predicted that Halley’s Comet will visit earth in 1758. And his prediction was absolutely right. The generally accepted fact is that Halley’s Comet takes nearly 76 years to revolve around the sun and on the basis of this it is expected to reappear on the earth in 2061. Halley’s scientific explanations on comets behavior helped to keep away peoples fear on comets appearance to some extent.

Hale-Bopp is the other comet that was seen towards the out part of the Jupiter’s orbit. It was Alan Hale of New Mexico and Thomas Bopp of Arizona who first watched that unusually large and bright comet using their Hubble Space Telescope….